City Council - Regular Meeting

Sorry for the delay, it is at 6.43 and we'll start the public speaking. Can we do a roll call, please?

Gallimuri?

Present.

Nicole Nelson? Denise Delamoye. Present. Jorge Cruz. Yes. Dasha Spell. Present. Rolanda Smith.

She's out on personal leave.

Thank you. Janet Herron.

Present.

Loretta Dubac. Mitchell Lyons. Mary McBride Lee. Richard Ortiz, Alfredo Castillo, Frederick Hodges, Aiden Nieves, Maria Valle, Kella Medina, Maria Pereira, Aneida Martinez, Ernest Newton. We have a quarter.

Thank you. The first speaker is John Marshall Lee, and I have four others after that. You have three minutes. And please state your name and address.

My name is John Lee. I'm still at 30 Beacon Street in Bridgeport. I want you to know that we've had two of the casual civics conversations on porches, and Councilperson Nicole Nelson did one on Saturday. She had eight people there, just in case you're curious. Small porch, but we were jolly, and she did serve water for us. Thank you. So you can get people to a meeting about civics, and I had one yesterday with several people there. Tomorrow night, we're at Squash Bridge, not on our porch, but that's another district that's not represented tonight. Alfredo and Councilperson Hodges, it's their district, 1691 at 6 p.m. So come and find out for yourself. I previously called attention to members of the city council who failed to register with the town clerk's office. It's not a new ordinance having been created by the council to deal with officials of the city, either elected or appointed, who have an address outside of the community or district. Last week, there were five council members with forms missing. I couldn't get into the office today, so I don't know. I sent them emails with the form. I've tried to be helpful. Now, there are roughly 150 positions on boards and commissions who share the annual obligation. Only library board members have signed up, likely because they're unaware of this duty on other committees. The chairperson of that committee, Jim O'Donnell, he's right on target. Why is that? Are boards and commissions important to the operation of the city? I believe they are. Do individuals know the why and how? Now Mr. Ortiz's back is to me. He's not paying attention. If I did that to him, he would call it disrespect. Okay, have you as council members and district leaders looked at the website lately on boards and commissions? Is the listing accurate and the best that Bridgeport can offer to residents paying taxes and wish to become active in public service? Doesn't this have to do with civics? I have stressed for over two years. Is it an error to indicate that the city council is a board or commission? That's on the list. Okay, is the school building committee open to the public i'm told it's not it's for department members and for the Council, but it's on the list. Is the Charter review Commission alive and well or a group with a limited term. Last week, there were 20 boards and commissions listed with vacancies. Further review showed public purchases, police, fire, WPCA, walk of honor and civil services do not have a vacancy. So you're putting out information or you're allowing and I'm sorry, but you will get a copy of my notes as usual. And perhaps somebody will show up tomorrow night or on the QR code. that talks about where we are located.

Thank you, John. Maria Pereira.

Maria Pereira, A.D. Granfield. First of all, the first thing on tonight's agenda is the municipal code or ordinance on unaffiliated employee salaries. And notice how slick they are. Accepted and made part of the record. And can we do that with an ordinance or does the city charter require every single ordinance under section chapter six D, no vote shall be taken upon any ordinance, resolution, or other measure in the city council until the same shall have been referred to and reported upon by an appropriate committee. The salary, which they're adding four positions, three of them over $100,000 to the salary ordinance, has to go to the ordinance committee, there has to be a notice in the paper, there has to be a public hearing, and see how slick they are. And they put on the agenda, we're just giving you a report for acceptance.

We don't need you to talk about it.

We don't need you to have a public hearing. We don't need you to look at it, which is a violation of the city charter. It's an ordinance. It must go to committee, OK? That's what we deal with in this corrupt administration. And the reason they don't want an ordinance change to go through is because who ultimately has to sign or decide on an ordinance? The mayor has to sign it, veto it, or deny it. And that would include his unconstitutional raise that I'm the only person who objected to and voted against. I want you to know that I'm almost done with my analysis. I believe the mayor has stolen somewhere around $200,000 since he was reelected in 15. I am going to the feds. And then we have other people who've gotten raises illegally, including the registrars, the town clerk, in violation of the Connecticut Constitution. It's about $400,000. and I will be going to feds with that. So that's why they don't want an ordinance change to go to the mayor, because then he has to do something about the ordinance that's giving himself an illegal, another $6,000 raise. Number two, we had the press conference today that I organized with Ashley, who did an amazing job on the parking ordinance about the tractor trailers, which I'm sure you have gotten complaints about it, because I get so many complaints about tractors, tractor trailers, utility, Hitches, whatever. Tonight, today, my press conference was hijacked and held in the mayor's office who refused to sign the ordinance. He sent it back to the city clerk unsigned, the ordinance on register and the The council president and the councilwoman from the 139th just took over my press conference, put it into the mayor's office. His police department does nothing about these issues. His administration has done nothing about these issues. This was driven by five months of work by myself and Ashley, quite frankly, who did a lot of amazing research. So I consider it incredibly disrespectful what happened today. You don't hijack my press conference on an ordinance that I wrote that I spent five months on. It's really disrespectful. I just went there still with the sign. The mayor had nothing to do with this ordinance. He didn't even sign it. I mean, I don't know how these two people took over a press conference that I organized for an ordinance that I wrote. Really disrespectful behavior. But I'm going to address it.

Thank you. George Cruz.

Good evening, dear colleague. My name is George Cruz, Jorge Cruz, from the 131st District. My address is 249 Black Rock Avenue, Bridgeport, Connecticut. Before I make my comments, I just wanna encourage folks to order this book, War Against All Puerto Ricans, Revolution and Terror in America's Colony, by Dennis, Nelson Dennis. I am standing here today because lately, as we all many know, the Christopher Columbus or the killer Christopher Columbus statue was out of sight, out of mind, away from Seaside Park. And now a few people decided to say, the hell with my feelings, the hell with my ancestors, we're gonna bring that killer back and restore Seaside Park. And it bothers me that other elected officials, Puerto Ricans and blacks, or Latinos, are not saying anything about it. They want to ram that statue down our throat, especially at a property that belongs to the Golden Hill Parkinson's. Ladies and gentlemen, let me just say, when enough is enough. When enough is enough. I know that from the history they have normalized this creature, Killer Columbus, as a hero. He ain't no damn hero. He's a killer. get that through your mind and anybody that's listening out there get that through your mind Christopher Columbus was a killer and I said I never attended the parade and I think that it would be a shame if the city council have a float at the city at the Columbus day parade honoring the killer the city council should not have a float just recently we just had The Puerto Rican parade, Juneteenth parade, and last yesterday, the beautiful Dominican parade, what does that represent? That represents slavery, that represents atrocities, killing, trying to annihilate populations during the Caribbean. We gotta come to terms. I'm not here to try to offend any particular population that honored this killer. But if they don't respect my feelings, then why should I give a damn about how they feel? If they don't care how I feel that this happened 400 years ago and we're just supposed to normalize and say it's okay. So what? 400 years ago? No. Go tell that to the mothers who go to the court here locally to do an impact statement to talk to the killer that killed their child. before they were sentenced to prison. Christopher, the killer, Columbus is not here so I can do my impact statement. At least I got this platform right here. And I am asking the council president is to do not allow a float to participate in the Columbus parade because that is a deceptive, that is hypocrisy, and that is backstabbing to the rest of the population. This Puerto Rican flag became legal when I was born, 1957. Prior to that, a man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for holding the flag. Look it up.

Thank you, George.

20 years for holding the flag. It was sentenced in Puerto Rico.

Thank you.

And we're going to stand here and try to say that we're going to bring a killer back. Thank you. Statue, no statue. He don't belong here.

Next speaker, Shante Hanks.

Good evening. Can you all hear me?

We can hear you, yes.

Okay. Good evening, Council President, members of the City Council, and fellow residents. My following remarks are germane to Bridgeport and the potential impacts on this community, not the broader issue of military defense policy. The proposed quantum cyber project at the former arcade metal stamping facility illustrates why Bridgeport needs a stronger review process for future industrial development. Although there appears to have been discussion with elected officials and members of the East End NRZ respectfully, Bridgeport would benefit from a formal review process for projects such as this. The entire city is recognized as an environmental justice community under state law. According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, or DEEP, Bridgeport is among the four Connecticut cities with the largest and the greatest concentration of facilities that may contribute to environmental and public health burdens. In 2024, we ranked among the nation's 100 most challenging cities to live with asthma. To better understand the environmental oversight associated with this project, I requested information from DEEP. DEEP confirmed that no permit applications have been submitted. As a result, the agency does not yet know the planned manufacturing processes or whether environmental permits will ultimately be required depending on the materials used and work performed. The limited information available to the public supports the need for more formal and transparent review processes. I therefore recommend that Bridgeport establish a two-part environmental burden score and project impact score, along with an environmental justice and industrial review commission. The environmental burden score would measure existing conditions such as air quality, contaminated properties, traffic, flooding, and proximity to homes and schools. The project impact score would evaluate the proposed operation, including manufacturing processes, chemical use, waste management, truck traffic, noise, emergency response demands, employment opportunities, potential health effects, and projected fiscal impacts to the city. These findings would then be reviewed by the proposed Environmental Justice and Industrial Review Commission composed of both Bridgeport residents as well as professionals with expertise in environmental science, public health, land use, etc. The commission could then recommend appropriate protections to the city council and land use boards. I trust we all can agree that economic development should create measurable benefits for Bridgeport residents. Quantum Cyber has announced plans to retain Arcade Metal employees in up to 80 jobs. However, according to SEC filings, the company only recently shifted from cancer diagnostics to defense drone manufacturing, and its drone subsidiary just was established this May. So although the company has stated its intent to serve the Pentagon and other government customers, no government production contract has been publicly confirmed. An intention to compete for government business is not the same as a secured contract. Defense-related employment may involve background checks, licensing, security restrictions. Bridgeport should know which positions will be available to residents with records, whether training pathways will be created, and how many positions will be accessible to residents, in particular on the East End and returning citizens. Residents also deserve clear information about the materials stored or assembled required security measures, emergency response plans, whether our police and fire departments will have to be in play at times, public safety must remain part of this review. Chante, your time is up. Oh, it is? I'm sorry. I'm just, okay. In closing, I just want Bridgeport to be known as a city that welcomes investment, but while maintaining high standards. Thank you.

Can you provide that to the council or email it to us so we can share it? Thank you. Donnell? Stevenson?

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. I'm pretty sure you can finish the rest of the sentence. But to be honest, I might go to hell for what I'm about to say because I'm tired of praying to a white man with blue eyes called Jesus Christ when we celebrate Halloween before Christmas. You see, we put this fake mask on and pretend like we supposed to be human. When was the last time you seen Jesus? Easter, for instance, we celebrate Easter. But when's the last time you celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Jesus died for no reason for you to sit in front of me and go elect Donald Trump as president of the United States. And I use the Constitution as a freedom of speech, but when's the last time you prayed to God? See, I'm the son of man, and the son of man is the son of God, so... I might as well just praise God for myself. You see, the last time I celebrated Halloween was in 1999 when B.J. Brown was killed in Bridgeport, Connecticut. You see, B.J. Brown was nine years old, and I remember when Joe Gannon was, you know, elected, I was probably like four years old. You see, I was born in 1999 on Halloween, October 31st. You see, the day I was born, the day that God, well, you know, Lucifer, his name was Lucifer, the devil. and he actually had to go back in time and go to jesus christ to go to hell so i was born on earth you see my dad you know he practices witchcraft and voodoo and you know he's protected by the constitution because that's his practice of religion but i go to church every sunday hearing the pastor preach about God, how God is good. But when was the last time God was good to me? You see, I live in poverty. I didn't have a job for two years. I was unemployed paying taxes to Uncle Sam. Meanwhile, they go to dropping bombs in Palestine and Israel is supposed to be the next man. So next time you want me to pray to God, I'm not praying to a white man with blue eyes. You see, my God lives within me. I believe in my God, and my God is within me. So the Constitution, that's my freedom of speech. But I pray every day. And I don't need you to remind who I pray to God. So again, I don't know how it feels to be a black man in a white America. But last time I checked, we got Donald Trump as president of the United States.

it's your own god you know what i'm saying thank you this concludes the public speaking we'll convene in 10 minutes so if you have to go to the restroom or anything

just for waiting for you when you're done.

City Council, please head to your seats. We'll start the meeting. City Council, please head to your seats. City Council, I need you to go to your seats, please. I want to start this meeting. Thank you. It's 7.08, we are starting the meeting of the city council. Please go to your seats. When we get to it, okay. All right, city clerk, can you do the roll call please?

and then I'll do the prayer and I'll do the email.

Council, please, these sidebar conversations, it's very difficult to hear up here.

Galen Murray.

Present.

Nicole Nelson. Present. Denise Alamoy. Jorge Cruz. Yes. Tasha Spell. I'm here. Akin Boy.

I'm here.

Janet Herron. Present. Loretta Dubath.

She's here.

Michelle Lyons.

Present.

Richard Ortiz.

I'm here.

Alfredo Castillo. I saw him. Ida Nieves.

I'm here.

Alfredo, you don't belong there. Go back. Maria Valle. Hela Medina. Maria Pereira. Eneida Martinez. Ernest Newton. We have a quorum.

Thank you. Richard Ortiz, can you do the prayer tonight?

He's a newly elected deacon, so yes.

Congratulations.

Bless this chamber, bless the people in this chamber. Try to keep the calm and peace that we need, Lord, because I tell you, people do need it. And I would hope people find it in their hearts to understand people do have opinions. Lord, do trust and believe that people need to pay attention to people. In that prayer, I say amen. Amen.

Galen Murray, can you lead the pledge?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We have the approval of minutes for May 12th, 2026 special meeting. Can I have a motion? All those in favor. Any opposed? Maria Pereira is opposed.

Anita Martinez, you'd like to say something on this? Thank you, Madam President. No, I was trying to get your attention while we were doing the prayer because I wanted to do a moment of silence, which we didn't do. In June for Lydia Martinez, his niece passed away in Norwalk. And although she passed away in Norwalk, she is related to our city clerk. So if we can take a moment of silence for her niece. And Madam President, I would like a point of personal privilege. with the agenda. Thank you.

I have two with personal, I'd like to do the personal privilege later so we can get through the agenda and I'll take your personal privileges. Ernie Newton, then Michelle Lyons.

Speaker, it was brought to my attention that our town chairman lost his sister. No. From my understanding, So let's keep Mario Testo's family in prayer and the loss of a sister, I understand. Thank you.

Michelle? Yes. Also, too, we lost an employee this week, John Lombard. He was an amazing individual. He always was due diligence with his work, and may the Lord bless him and his family during this time because he's been with the city for a very long time. and he would try to come in as much as he could during the time when he was not feeling well, and he did the best that he could. So thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you, everybody. The first item on the agenda, we have May 18th City Council Minutes, 2026. Can we get a motion? There were two. There's two, there was May. All those in favor? Any opposed? Maria's opposed, thank you. Communications to be referred to committee. I have you opposed, Maria. Communication to be referred to committee. Okay, that's what I'm saying, but give me a second. Let me put you there, because that's what I read. Thank you. Go ahead.

Okay, so we have 8825, which says we're just accepting it and making it a part of the record in violation of the city charter. This is an ordinance. Ordinances under Chapter 6D, no vote shall be taken upon any ordinance, resolution, or other measure in the city council until the same has been referred to and reported upon by an appropriate committee. Changing salaries, adding $300,000 positions and another one requires this to go to the ordinance committee that we have a public hearing that's noticed in the paper. It's not a matter of just accepting. So I'd like to make sure that this item 8825 is referred specifically to the ordinance committee as required by the city charter.

There would have to be a motion to make that so we all know what we have to do. Second. Did you make the motion, Maria?

Yeah, I think I made the motion.

Well, you said it should be. I need the motion clear.

Okay.

You want to restate it? Yes, please.

I make a motion to take 8825, which is the Unaffiliated Employee Salaries Ordinance 2.36010 and refer to the Ordinance Committee as required by Chapter 6 of the City Charter. Thank you. There's a second.

Alfredo Castillo. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. 8925, communications for mayor reappointment of James O'Donnell to the library board. Okay, all those in favor?

Any opposed?

Okay, thank you. Matters to be acted upon on this consent calendar. Budget and Appropriate Appropriation Committee report budget.

Yeah.

You don't have what? Okay. Okay, slow down.

Where are we now?

Taking items off the consent calendar. 84-25.

77-25.

OK, go ahead. 78-25 and 79-25.

OK, so those are moved and all those are on the consent calendar. Can we make a motion to accept the other ones?

So moved.

All those in favor? to accept all the other consent calendar to go to committee? Maria Pereira.

One second.

Yes, Ernie. And you gotta press your buttons, guys. We've been doing this too long. Go ahead.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm looking at 5025. It's asking it to be withdrawn So it shouldn't have to go to no committee. They're asking us to withdraw this item. So I would ask that 5025 be pulled also.

It's not a defer. It's just consent to get approved, all of these. This is all getting approved now. Not the withdrawal. It says withdrawal.

Madam President, may I? Go ahead. We didn't have to refer that to public safety. No. It was a zoning action. Correct. So zoning passed it, so we have to report on public safety.

I got you. OK. So all the other items except for 8420. All the items?

The ones that we left out. Okay, go ahead. Hold on.

So, 84, 25, maybe? I mean the ones that are out. 50, 25.

65. From 65, because you removed 50.

So the ones were removed. 65. Was it removed? No, he removed this one. Okay, yeah. 5025, Public Safety and Transportation Committee Report. Proposed resolution imposing a temporary moratorium on the approval and opening of a new smoke shop within the city. Withdrawn. 6525, Public Safety and Transportation Committee Report. Grant submission, Connecticut Department of Transportation driving under the influence DUI enforcement number 2637, number 26317, number 28317. 6625, Public Safety and Transportation Committee Report, grant submission, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Edward Burns Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, Program Local Formula Number 27312-7225, Public Safety and Transportation Committee Report, Grant Submission, Seychelles, Connecticut, of Transportation Dollar Ride Municipal Grant Program for the Elderly and Disabled, FY27-FY28. And then the last one that I have is 82-25?

82 and 83.

Okay. 82-25 contract committee report agreement with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 15-22. Council 4 asked me 15-22 regarding the collective bargaining unit contract from July 1, 2024 to June 30th. Twenty-twenty-nine. Eighty-three, twenty-five, contract committee report agreement with the Connecticut Association of Labor, Calhoun, regarding the collective bargaining union contract from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2030. There's one more.

Okay. I think I said you missed it.

You want to . You got that one? I don't have it here. Why? It's right here. Oh, okay. 81-25, that's the first one that we had. Budget and appropriation committee report. We budget transfer document number three for fiscal year 2026 from citywide contingency account number 016-1000-57005. $115,000. Sanitation and recycling, other services account. Number 013-25000-56180. $115,000 for continued service of trash pickup and removal within the Downtown Special Services District. An additional transfer form. Citywide contingency account. Number 016-1000. 57005, $35,000 into account. Number 0150500056180, $35,000 for services to eligible citizens in need of assistance with hardship unable to pay utility bills. That's it.

Thank you. Do I have a motion to consolidate all those? Okay, I'm hearing conversations on this floor. Please, let's get this meeting done. There's a motion to approve the items that are said. There's a second by Alfredo Castillo. All those in favor? Aye. And I will abstain on AFSCME 1522 contract. Thank you, everybody. So we can read the other four items. Lydia, would you be able to go from the first one? Because we have to do the motions on each one of those and have conversations. 84-25, 77-25, 78-25, or 79-25. Do you want to speak on that? Wait a minute.

Yeah. The solar panels are together, but 84-25 needs to be discussed separately. Okay. So she's going to read into the record, or am I just going to start talking? She can read it into the record.

Thank you.

8425, Economic and Community Development and Environment Committee Report, Regranted Mission, U.S. Department of Transportation, DOT, FY 2026, Safe Streets and Roads for All Funding, East Main Street Reconstruction Project, number 27648. 7725, Contract Committee Report, Power Purchase and License Agreement with Cephia Solar Services Incorporated for the Solar Project at Curiel School. 7825.

No, just the first one.

Oh, the other ones? What are we going to do with the other ones?

We're going to do them separately.

Okay. So the first one, the only one? Not two? I read two.

Maria, go ahead.

Can I go? Okay, I raised this concern in committee and I'm gonna raise it here again tonight. Okay, the city is putting in a million dollars for a state highway. State highways are under the strict purview and control of the State Department of Transportation and the State of Connecticut. You can see they're seeking a federal grant for 6683, right? And by the way, this is an eight block stretch. Eight blocks and we're at $8 million. I grew up in that neighborhood. I know how dangerous it is. My hangout was Washington Park as a kid. And I'm not against the improvements. I want to be clear. How is the state putting in 671,000 and municipal taxpayers are putting in a million dollars for a state highway. As a municipality, we have no obligation to any state property, any state highway. They pave it, they plow it, they deal with the patches on it, they stripe it, I don't understand why the state isn't putting all of it in. Why are municipal taxpayers, we're using city capital bond money, which municipal taxpayers are paying interest on for 20 years. It's a state highway. It's solely under their purview. If anybody here knows, if you wanted to put a stop sign onto any portion of east main street from an off street a municipal street out you have to go through the state d.o.t to get a crosswalk in because just because that street is intersected with the state highway it's almost impossible to get a stop sign a crosswalk anything so I don't understand why we're putting in a dollar of municipal money for a state highway. That is the role of the state. As a matter of fact, we're putting in more money than the state, according to this. So for that reason, I'm a no. It's not that I'm against the improvements. It is dangerous there. I know that. But it should be the role of the state and the feds. The feds puts in plenty of money for state highways, but not the city of Bridgeport and our municipal taxpayers. Thank you.

Thank you. Ernie Newton.

Thank you, Madam President. Let me say this. The two council people in that district, and she can speak for herself. Just like we do anything else, I don't remember if this was gonna be matching funds that we were supposed to help with this grant, but it needs to be done. And the city is not squawking about coming up with a million dollars to assist in this program. I live on, my co-partner, Stratford Avenue is a state highway. Connecticut Avenue is a state highway. If they came to the city and said, we need to have some money to help fix it up, then it's our responsibility too to help them. And for the state to come in, to straighten out some dangerous situations in that district, I don't think the council should be telling the state, we're not gonna do it because we don't feel we should put money in. Because what that does is that tells the state, okay, we ain't doing nothing for Bridgeport. And we don't want that. So sometimes we've gotta look beyond It could be on any state highway in any one of your districts. That east side corridor is terrible. And if the state wants to come in and help, and they want the city to help, we should step up to the plate. Because guess what? They're our constituents. And we want to make it safe for our constituents Okay, they're not state constituents. They're the city of Bridgeport constituents. And I would ask my colleagues to vote in favor of.

Can we have a motion for that item? So moved. Is there a second? Second, that was Nicole Nelson. All those in favor? Aye. Any discussion?

Any opposed?

Okay, then no vote. Are you a no vote? Okay, so you're a no vote. All right, so there's one no, Maria Pereira. Thank you. I'm gonna ask, we have three items, 7725, 7825, and 7925. Can we move a motion on this so we can have a discussion, please? Denise Talamoy.

Thank you.

Okay, so now we can have discussions. What? Oh, you got to press your button, sweetie. Okay, got it. Thank you.

So I just 77, 25, 78, 28, and 70, 29. I just want to table it. I'm not trying to kill it. It's just, we just got the information today. We just got the information today. So I wanna at least give us time to look at it. And then there's a couple of questions. I've just looked at it, you know, not all of it, but. Okay.

All right.

All right, there's a motion on the floor to table, and it was a second by George Cruz.

George. Jeanette.

I didn't finish.

Because George, George, I talked to George. He said he sent him, but she was on vacation. And Richard's got it today. They called James. And he's got it today.

All right. The person that made the motion to approve the item, if you'd withdraw that motion as per the attorney. If not, then we have to move forward with that vote. Oh.

Motion to table takes precedence. Motion to table takes precedence over anything on the floor. And it's not debatable.

I just I didn't finish my question. I just. We're gonna break it down and we're gonna send them questions that we, cause I got it today and you know where I got it from? George Garcia sent it to me today and I'm on the committee.

Okay, let me just explain something and I don't like to intervene. That was sent out a while ago to the co-chairs. Rich Ortiz never received it on his email, but it was received. Sometimes we miss emails, we miss that and that does happen. You know, we have the people here to speak, but I do know there's a lot of questions.

I just want to, we want to give them questions so they can answer it back to us. Cause we're the one who asks the question and Rich asked at the time in the meeting was never sent in one of the questions, how much it costs and nothing's in there. And they gave us one year. They didn't even give us a breakdown.

And Rich did talk to George today and said that it was possible to get tabled.

Yes.

So I agree. Let's do that. I know this is a lot of miscommunication. So there's a motion on the table. There's a second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Yeah, I am opposed as well. You're opposed as well? Galen Murray is opposed, anybody else opposed? We're tabling it. You wanna table it or no? Okay, so there's Galen Murray, myself, Ernie Newton, and Maria Vallee. Yes. I just said that, it was received. Absolutely. That's what I said. Thank you, though. I appreciate you trying to clear it up. There are people that have conversations here. Guys, the one thing I've got to ask you, you guys are talking over this chair. You've got to stop. I can't hear if you're talking to each other. You've got to please be respectful here. Thank you. There are people that have to say something. Maria Avalia, you go first, because that is your other thing with your district.

Yes, again, you know, I know. Yes. We tabled it, yes. Again, my concern is these are schools and schools beginning soon. And if this could be moved as quickly as possible, because again, it is our children that go to these schools.

I agree. Their button.

Thank you, Madam President. Let me say that this council never ceases to amaze me. And the reason that is, is that the Board of Education voted in favor. And so now, and the good councilwoman who sat on the Board of Ed used to be the first one to say, we don't have no say so for what the Board of Ed does. So now what we're doing, we're telling the Board of Ed after they took a vote, they're independent from this council. They thought it was well enough, they approved it, Now the council is saying we're gonna start putting our nose in your business which we shouldn't be doing that. We really shouldn't be doing that because they got their own board and that's just like the council telling the Board of Ed to do something and they change it. That's not fair. So now we opened up a Pandora box that now we're gonna be big brother to tell the Board of Ed what they should do. So what they should do is do away with the Board of Education and let the council run the Board of Ed too.

So I asked a number of questions in committee. In the motions, I have the minutes. The minutes specifically say that it was removed on the committee on the condition the information requested would be received. I followed up with a co-chair eight days ago who promised to look into it and get back to me and did not. We received it after 4 p.m. Okay, so, I mean, that was a condition for it to move out of committee, that we receive the information requested. And I even did extra by following up with the co-chair, which is not my job. Co-chairs need to do what they're supposed to do. And that person never got back to me, never responded. It was my email today, which finally resulted in us getting it after, I guess, around 5 o'clock. Thank you. Dasha?

So I am the co-chair who Maria is talking about. Yes, the email was sent to me on the 21st of July. I've been on vacation. I do apologize. Our actual committee, If everyone who is an actual member of the contracts committee feel that there is still questions that they have and they need answers for, I will support us tabling it. However, if the members of the contract committee are fine with the answers that we got previously and want to support the Board of Education with moving forward on this project, I will support that as well. So at this time, if it's okay with Madam President, all contract committee members. Can you raise your hand?

Well, it's already been tabled, so there's no conversation here about that.

So what we'll do is, Rich, you and I discuss having an emergency meeting.

Well, I'm going to ask you guys to do a special meeting very quickly so we can move forward on that. So I got you.

That's fine.

Thank you.

Yeah, so we got the answers today, but not everything. We didn't get the three years. You only gave us one year. We asked how much it's gonna cost. We didn't get that. What else? And the breakdown. So we didn't get nothing that we asked for. So what I'm gonna do is through the co-chairs, we're going to break it down all the questions that we want to be answered and then you send us with all not no you know percentage i want it in detail like this is this this is that that's the way i want to read it so we can make our decisions come in september and i'm not trying to kill anything i'm just trying to say listen if we ask for something give us our respect and give us what we need so we can make a decision and i know the co-chairs It's our fault for not following up, but it's not you guys, but we need our answers so we can make a proper decision. And I'm not trying to kill nothing for the kids. That's not my, I just want my answers, just like anything else. If you ask me for something, I have to give it to you. I'm asking you to give us what we asked for. And I'm gonna talk to the president and then the questions that we want answered, you send it to us and then the contracts will, We'll look at it and then we'll make our decision to bring it back.

Thank you, Alfredo. Rich Ortiz.

Okay. We did ask for certain things. We didn't get it. And that's where my disagreement with you is right now. We did ask for what it's going to cost us. As for three years of the electric bill, you didn't give that. You only gave us one. Okay. That is your fault. Okay, I'll take responsibility, even though the email didn't come to me. I made that very clearly, but some people just have their own opinion on that. Now, even if you have this project up and running, you're not going to have any time, no time until late next year. Let's be honest about that by the time you build it out. So it's not going to affect anything this year. So I can make that very clear.

We can't hear you. I'm sorry.

That's all right. Thank you. I'm all set.

Taisha Toms would like to say, make a statement here.

Go ahead, Taisha. Well, two things. One, you tabled the item. It's going to come back to council unless you refer it back to committee. I don't know if you want to have the discussion at council or if you want to have it at committee. If you want to have it at the council, considering that council for the BOE and all of the folks are here, then perhaps you ask the questions now since they are here. Or at least provide them with the information so that they can give you what you're asking for. They're here and they've, the Board of Ed is paying for that attorney to be here right now. And you're telling them to come back because you weren't prepared and yet they're here and you're saying they didn't give you the appropriate information. So if something's missing, why not tell them what they're missing so that they can get it for you next time?

Go ahead, Alfredo.

So the questions that we're asking, the people on the contracts, so then we could make a decision on what they didn't give us. We're not trying to kill it. We just got it today, Taisha. How do you want us to make a decision and we didn't even get everything we asked for? So I'm just saying, I wanna break it down. Actually, the questions that the contract want, give it to us, we look at it, we'll bring it back. September is around the corner.

Okay, we're gonna stop this debate. It's already tabled. Anyone that has the questions that they have, please email me at the co-chairs. We will get it to them and we'll get all the clear information and we'll send it out to the whole council. I know, I'm sorry that you guys got here. There was miscommunication and I want to apologize for that because this doesn't make sense. Is everybody in agreement with that? No, it's not gonna go back to the committee. We're gonna send George all the information that we're requesting. I know you have one year that we requested. They're asking for the three years. But we'll communicate tomorrow about that, okay? All right, thank you. We're going to do some points of personal privilege before the last item takes effect. I do want to say something first, and then we have three other council people that have something to say, and then we'll go for the last vote. It's been very evident that people are unable to show up to meetings and that's okay, that happens, but we're not getting phone calls to let us know that they're not here. We are pulling attendance. Remember in our rule books, there's an attendance requirement. If you have, you know, you've had medical reasons, you have personal reasons, that's okay. You should call the council. committee member, the committee co-chairs or the council president, just so we have a documentation that you've been excused for those days. And that's fine. Vacations happen, things like that happen. I've had to go away, I told everybody. So please be conscious of your council colleagues because when we have to cancel a meeting or we don't have a quorum, I should be called to fill in that quorum. I'm not being called either. So if you have to do a special meeting because there's no quorum, If there's not a quorum and you have three, you should be calling me, all the co-chairs. And this has been a process that we've had for years. It's not new things. So please, please be conscious of your colleagues. That's just being courteous to them because it has been brought to my attention.

I know I'm gonna do that after.

Okay, Anita Martinez, you're the first one for your point of personal privilege, and then it'll be George and then Michelle Lyons. All right, George, you can go. No yelling and screaming on the thing, please.

Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I read this with the utmost of respect. All right, again, this is in regards to the killer Christopher Columbus statue. I will continue to call him a killer statue here in the city of Bridgeport. Yo, Madam Chair, is everybody gonna listen while I'm reading or people gonna be moving around? You know, when somebody's reading or speaking, I stay right here.

George, I apologize, but before, when I kept on telling everybody to sit down, nobody listened either, and I apologize for that.

Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, Council President, members of the City Council. My name is Jorge Cruz. As a proud Puerto Rican and descendant of the Taino people, I rise today to speak a truth that history has too often softened or ignored. Before Christopher Columbus arrived, or let me just say before the killer Christopher Columbus arrived, the Taino were not uncivilized people waiting to be discovered. They were not waiting to be discovered. They had organized communities, spiritual traditions, agriculture, leadership under caciques, and a deep relationship with the land and sea. Killer Columbus reached Boricua, now called Puerto Rico, in 1493 and claimed it for Spain. His voyages opened the door to a colonial system that kidnapped and enslaved indigenous people, seized their land, demanded gold and labor, and answered resistance with brutal violence. Puerto Rico's systematic conquest began in 1508 under Juan Ponce de Leon. The Taino were forced to labor in gold mines and under the ecomienda system. Families and communities were torn apart by this killer Columbus. Many died from violence, starvation, exhausting labor, and European diseases to which they had no immunity. We should be historically accurate. Killer Columbus did not personally commit every atrocity that later occurred in Puerto Rico, but he initiated and represented the system of conquest again, but he initiated and represented the system of conquest, exploitation, and dehumanization that made those atrocities possible. The Taino were nearly destroyed as a people, but they did not disappear. Their blood, language, culture, courage, and spirit live on in Puerto Rico and descendants just like me. This is not about erasing history, no. It is about telling the complete history of the killer Columbus. We should not honor conquest while ignoring its victims throughout the Caribbean. Let us remember the Taino people with truth, dignity, and respect. and recognize their endurance and their resistance. And we will continue to resist and speak up. Thank you.

Thank you, George. Marie Vallee, I saw that you wanted to say something. You still want to speak? All right, thank you. I have privilege, George, that I had already stated. Anita Martinez, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know we don't rebuttal public speakings, but sometimes when you public speak, you should do your research before you come before the council with misleading information. So Shante Hanks had left, but I wanted to respond back to her statement regarding what the manufacturing that is on the East End. First of all, we as the elected officials have no control because that was a private sale. It went from the actual owner to another owner. So it was a private sale. It did not come through OPED. We didn't have a say-so in it. Secondly, the drone company had already been doing business with the manufacturing company because they already make the material there that the drone will be utilizing. So sometimes, you know, and it's their right. It's freedom of speech. They can say what they want to say, but when it comes to our district, my council colleague Ernie and I, I'm going to correct the statement because a lot of times you make The council looked bad as if we're in cahoots with things that are happening in the district, and that wasn't the case here. Luckily, Alfredo knew the owner, and he was the one that set up the press conference for us to stand before this manufacturing company because the guy didn't want to do it. All he wants to do is bring jobs here and move forward. He didn't want a press conference. He wanted to just be silent about the whole thing. But the correct fact to this is that they were already merged in with this man, with this company, and all they did was took it over, purchased it, and they're going to bring a lot of good employment to the city of Bridgeport. I mean, these people are going to start at like $48 an hour. They're going to go through training and it's like 50 positions, if I'm not mistaken. Secondly, I would like to rebuttal what my council colleague to the right of me stated at the public speaking. We did not hijack the press conference. First and foremost, my council colleague Denise Taylor-Moy and I are the co-chairs of ordinance. In order to move anything forward, the ordinance had to submit a request to the police department. As we all know, she doesn't have a relationship with the chief of police. She doesn't have a relationship with the assistant chief. She doesn't have a relationship with any of the captains or the sergeants. Therefore, I initiated the press conference with lieutenants, sergeants, chiefs, and captains. To her defense, she did work on it. She worked on it for a long period of months with Ashley at her side attached to her hip. But prior to that, since I've been on the council in 2013, and Jeanette can attest to this, so can Alfredo, Maria Valle, because they've been on the council, we have been fighting this towing thing to get these ordinances in place. So I had it on my to-do list. Ashley was doing some research, but when she said she was gonna take it over, by all means, go ahead. I don't have to worry about it. So she ran the course, which is not for an individual, it's for all of us as a whole. This is a city issue. This isn't a one district issue. So, you know, she's upset and listen, All I can do and accept it, but I just wanted to clarify the fact that we didn't hijack the press conference. She does have issues with the mayor. She doesn't get along with the mayor. That's your problem. And the mere fact that we did it in the mayor's conference room, that really irritated her. We don't have press conferences in our city council chambers. Our council president spoke. She should not be overridden by anyone. She's the council president. She spoke. She said what was going to happen, and we moved along with it. So I just wanted to... clarify the facts of what took place today. And she's going to be upset and we can't, you know, Maria is going to be Maria, but thank you all. That's all I wanted to say. Lastly, lastly, let me just say this. For all of us, if we write an ordinance or if we vote on something and we want it to be acted on immediately, we must state that on the floor so that it can be on the record that this has to be acted on tomorrow. We didn't do that with this ordinance. So the mayor has 30 days to sign off on it. So we didn't do anything wrong by him not signing off on it. He literally has 30 days. Those 30 days will be August 6th. So thank you.

Yes, thank you. I'm not here to debate on who did what or what did who, but I do want to say that this ordinance stopping, standing, and parking generally has been out working for a very long time. So I want to thank not only the ordinance committee, but the public safety committee, because we did have a joint committee in reference to this ordinance because public safety has to be involved so it is ordinance when you want to make a law but also too once it gets out of committee which thank god it did because now we're able to put a lot of issues that in every one of our districts we have this issue and now we have something in place thank god for everybody that worked on it And now we have something that now we can go back and talk to our constituents, our neighbors and say, okay, now you have an issue now, the police can come out and now they have the authority to do what they need to do. So I just want to take a moment and thank everybody for all the hard work that they've done. And also remember, as soon as it also comes out of committee it also has to come to the full council so the full council i thank you all for that as well because we are a team and we are here to work together to make all our laws appropriately work together for the common good of the city of bridgeport thank you

Thank you, Michelle. Just so the council knows, that ordinance was passed, and it's going to take effect August 6th. There is still more work to be done on that ordinance. There are logistics that have not been done yet. That's being worked on. So just because it's written does not mean it's going to be right there. There are towing things that we have to talk about. We have to find out where to put the trucks. We have to find out what type of enforcement you know, things on the wheels, but there's a lot of moving parts right now that we had a conversation about this afternoon. So yes, the ordinance is done, but it's gonna take a little while to have signs put up and all the things that are gonna make it really enforceable. So I wanna thank you all for voting on that. It's been a long time coming. All our districts are affected with this, and I do appreciate you guys coming together and voting yes. We are gonna move on to the next item, 7625. Okay, you got the button. George, you should have pressed that button. Go ahead, Denise.

i just want to say as co-chair ordinance i want to um thank my co-chair anita martinez for all the hard work and everything that she do and making sure that these things come to the table the correct way in the right way as far as facts is concerned she hit everything right on the nose and on the nail you cannot come up here in front of the whole city because I say the whole city because this is aired and make statements and you don't have the full facts about it. You just can't do it like that. So I just wanna take this personal privilege time here right now to thank Anita for bringing all of this here to the attention, to let all of us here on the council know who was at these meetings and who wasn't at these meetings, where we all should know all the time from one another of what's going on. So I'd say thank you, Anita, and kudos to you for always catching something and bringing it to the attention of all of us. And while I'm making this personal privilege statement, I do want to thank everyone who came for the Walter Luckett sign. I want to thank everyone, especially Jeanette, George, Ernie, Rich. I can go on and on. Thank you for being there.

Thank you, Denise. That's it. Okay, we have item number 7625, Economic and Community Development and Environmental Committee Report. You wanna speak on that?

Go ahead, Maria. Item 76-22 needs to go back to the committee because there were questions that some individuals had, and in order to answer them, it was asked to go back to committee.

So you're making a motion to send it back to committee? Yes. Second. There's a second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, motion carries. Can I have a motion to adjourn please? Second by who? Michelle Lyons. All those in favor?

Aye.

Thank you everybody. I appreciate it. Have a good evening.